As befitting the Evil One, Pacino's character controls practically every illegal or immoral activity in the world; and he calls himself John Milton! Yes, named after THAT John Milton.
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Poor Al Pacino. The Academy overlooked him again. One could argue that he overacts the part of the Devil, but what actor wouldn't? It is a role that has been essayed a number of times by equally assertive actors--Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Burgess Meredith, even old George Burns. Walter Huston won an Oscar in 1941 for his sly portrayal of Old Scratch, but not Pacino.
So, Al, you're getting one from me, a DVD Town Toast. It is not exactly an Academy Award, I know, but it is a double ounce of well-deserved appreciation for a clever, proud, arrogant, decadent, sincere, and wholly engaging performance. Pacino plays a Devil for our times, a self-made common man of enormous power; a slick, patient, persistent lawyer, a Prince of Darkness with a wink and a nod.
"The Devil's Advocate" is part modern horror story and part old-fashioned morality tale. The action involves a small-town Southern lawyer, played by Keanu Reeves, who is recruited by a big-time New York law firm. Little does Reeves know that his new firm is headed up by the Devil himself, in the person of Al Pacino.
And this is no smalltime Devil. As befitting the Evil One, Pacino's character controls practically every illegal or immoral activity in the world; and he calls himself John Milton! Yes, named after THAT John Milton. Maybe the Devil is just as perverse as we like to think of him, or maybe he was jealous of the English poet and wanted to get even by usurping his name. In any event, the appellation serves well to underscore Satan's dictum, swiped from Book One of "Paradise Lost," that it is "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven."
Charlize Theron plays Reeves's much put upon spouse, who undergoes a quiet terror reminiscent of Mia Farrow's situation in "Rosemary's Baby." Needless to say, things go from bad to worse for Reeves, whom the Devil selected for his new position because of his latent corruptibility in the first place. The story has a good pace, a good and varied cast of characters, and plenty of surprises, including the inevitable climactic showdown and twist ending.
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